Victim had stepped out to earn livelihood, says friend

New Delhi: The 50-year-old woman who died after being caught under a speeding SUV in Connaught Place, had stepped out of her shelter home to earn her livelihood, a friend of her said. Phoolwati, 50, was drag-ged for nearly 300 metres on Sunday night by the SUV driven allegedly by a 20-year-old woman, who was arrested shortly after the accident.

Phoolwati’s friend, Kiran, said she had not imagined that the inmates of the shelter home, near Bangla Sahib Gurdwara where the victim lived with her son, was seeing her for the last time.

“She was the only bread-earner in the family. Her 19-year-old son Shanker is unemployed. She used to work in Shiv Mandir in the area as a cleaner and was also a ragpicker,” Kiran added.

Phoolwati’s husband, Sushil, died of tuberculosis two years ago, and she is survived by her three children — Shankar, Geeta and Ritu.

Phoolwati’s elder daughter, Geeta, is a widow and her younger daughter Ritu is pursuing fashion designing course from an institute in Naraina in Delhi.

“Ritu has never lived with her family. She spent her childhood at Salaam Baalak Trust and is currently pursing a course in fashion designing at the institute. Her education is funded by the trust,” said Santosh Kumar Gupta, a coordinator of the trust.

Shanker is preparing for Class 10 board exams. He never showed interest in studies, Gupta added.

The shelter home is being run by NGO ‘Humana People to People India’ near the gurudwara for nearly eight years now.

At 6 pm on Sunday, Phoolwati stepped out of the shelter home, wearing a salwar kameez, to sell junk, an inmate said.

“However around 10.30 pm, we were informed by Manju, who worked with Phoolwati near Shiv Mandir, that she has had an accident and taken to Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital,” the inmate said.

After that a number of shelter home inmates then reached the hospital.

They said they were informed by patients there that policemen have brought Phoolwati but she was declared brought dead by doctors.

“We immediately rushed to Connaught Place police station. We were around 15-20 people. As soon as police saw us, they closed the main gate. They did not allow us inside. We protested and even abused the policemen for barring us. Even her son Shanker was not allowed inside,” another inmate claimed.

The inmates said she was cremated on Monday afternoon. “I had seen her that day... I did not know that it was the last time I was seeing her,” the inmate said.

A few inmates alleged that the police registered an FIR in the matter after they protested outside the police station demanding justice.